“We are always so proud of our applicants. As they will tell you, the process of applying for awards requires a great deal of introspection and also the ability to share their visions with others. And while we recognize and applaud their success, great discoveries are made through the process,” said Marisa Iglesias, Ph.D., interim director of the Office of Prestigious Fellowships. “I am so impressed by the Fordham students and alumni who worked with the Campion Institute to achieve their goals. It’s a joy to celebrate them at this time of the year.” 

As of May 20, Fordham undergraduates, graduate students, and alumni have received 52 prestigious awards this year, including seven Fulbrights, one Critical Language Scholarship, and three National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships. In addition to the winners, 13 scholars were named as finalists, semi-finalists, and alternates for prestigious awards, including one Marshall Scholarship finalist. Additional awards will be announced this summer. 

Giselle Schmitz, a Peace Corps Coverdell Fellow who earned her master’s degree in international political economy and development last February, won the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship. In a year-long fellowship at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Science and Technology, Schmitz is supporting sustainable fisheries management and learning how policy interventions can be most effective in the marine sciences.

“Fisheries are important for a myriad of reasons. They support nutrition security worldwide as an important source of protein and they’re vital for a healthy ecosystem,” said Schmitz, a California native who started the fellowship in Maryland last February. 

Schmitz said she plans on using her Fordham education—and her law degree from the University of Oregon, where she learned about policymaking in relation to marine resources—to help protect the environment. 

“Fordham was a timely and wonderful experience for me. I had the opportunity to apply to their Coverdell Fellowship as a returning Peace Corps volunteer. Through the Coverdell Fellowship and the IPED program, I was able to dig deeper into quantitative methods and studies and examine the economic side of my legal research,” Schmitz said. “In the future, I hope to work in conservation criminology and study sustainable fisheries and marine protected areas.” 

Jason Ray, a doctoral student in English, won a Fulbright Research Award to the United Kingdom. Starting in September, he will study how medieval texts illuminate early Welsh people on their own terms, instead of as the subjects of English and Norman elites. “Wales is often considered to be England’s first colony. Since the Saxons invaded, the Welsh have been subject to xenophobia, displacement, subjugation, and exploitation,” Ray said. “I want to contribute to the critical conversations about identity, race, and colonization in this period and place.” 

Ray, a Georgia native, has a bachelor’s degree in theater studies from Yale University and a master’s degree in medieval and renaissance studies from Columbia University. When he realized that what he really loved about theater was not so much performing, but dissecting Shakespeare’s English, he returned to school with a renewed interest in the history of the English language. 

“That set me on this trajectory of going backwards in time until I reached Old English. And I couldn’t help but also think about the story behind its development, which is where literature and history come in. I went down a rabbit hole, and I haven’t come up yet. I feel a little bit like Alice in Wonderland,” he said, laughing. 

Ray said that someday, he wants to conduct research and teach as a professor. “Pedagogy is a huge part of our training at Fordham. At the same time, the school insists on rigorous research,” he said. “Fordham is really preparing me for a career in academia.”

As of May 20, prestigious awards received this year include: 

• In addition to Jason Ray, six Fulbright awards: Evan Allen, FCRH ’21, to Kazakhstan; Megan Brady, FCRH ’13, to Bosnia; Tauland Kaca, FCLC ’21, to Germany; Kristina Lazdauskas, FCRH ’21, to Lithuania; Christopher Myers, GSAS ’18 and current doctoral candidate, to Germany; and Tammen Nicholson, GSAS ’20, to Lesotho
• Critical Language Scholarship: Dominique Valentine, FCRH ’22
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships: William Beatrez, FCRH ’19; Kathryn Belcher, FCRH ’21; and Morgan McGrath, FCRH ’22
• U.S. Presidential Management Fellowships: Hannah Babiss, GSS ’21; Ellie Bauer, GSAS ’22; Adam Brasher, GSAS ’22; Jessica Dunston, GSS ’22; Dhan Gurung, GSAS ’21; Jacob Olson, GSAS ’21; Kevin Strohm, GSAS ’22; and Courtney Vice, LAW ’22
• International Atomic Energy Agency Internship: Victor Sapkota, GSAS ’21
• American Psychological Foundation/Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology Scholarship: Okeoma Nwakanma, GSAS ’22
• St. Gallen Wings of Excellence Awards: Giselle Schmitz, GSAS ’22, and David Woodside, GSAS ’23

As of May 18, Fordham undergraduates, graduate students, and alumni have received 62 prestigious awards this year, including three Fulbrights, a Critical Language Scholarship, 10 Excellence in Broadcasting awards, three Gates Millennium Scholarships, a Ford predoctoral fellowship, a Marshall award winner, three National Science Foundation fellowships, a Soros fellowship winner, a prestigious DAAD Long-Term Research Grant, and an internship in the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In addition to the winners, two scholars were named as finalists for prestigious awards, including a Coro fellowship finalist, and 21 were named as semi-finalists.

“Despite the many challenges that the global pandemic presented, the Campion Institute saw a record number of applicants who persevered through a rigorous application process and learned a lot about themselves, their values, and the contribution they hope to make to the world,” said Anna Beskin, Ph.D., interim director of the Office of Prestigious Fellowships. “We couldn’t be prouder of all of our applicants!”

Alejandra Garcia, FCLC ’21, who majored in visual arts and English, won a U.S. Fulbright Student Arts Program award to France. Garcia, who grew up in San Diego, near the U.S. border with Mexico, said a lot of her painting and drawing has focused on migration and immigration, something she hopes to explore more in France.

“I’m pretty interested in the different or similar attitudes towards migration—I’m from a border city—and I think I have a very particular view of my own experiences with xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiments and things of that sort. And I am very curious to learn about how that is handled in France and in Europe,” she said. “I really want to work with immigrant communities there rather than just learn about it from an outsider perspective. I want to be integrated and hear from those actual voices.”

Garcia said she’ll be working on her immigration studies with the Paris College of Art, and, hopefully, the National Museum of History of Immigration. She’ll also be working with the Paris College of Art on their “Drawing is Free” program, which invites the public in to use their resources and create art.

“That was something that I was really attracted to, because something that I really believe in is expanding artistic accessibility to other people,” she said.

Garcia said her goal is to pursue U.S. artist-in-residence opportunities after her Fulbright and pursue a Master of Fine Arts degree in a few years.

Matias Ayala, PCS ’21, won a U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs IT Fellowship. Ayala, who came to Fordham after serving in the Marine Corps, said his time in the military made him interested in cybersecurity and information technology.

“I started hearing a lot about cybersecurity, mainly in our deployment briefings. We heard a lot about how to remain secure and make sure that we’re not exposing ourselves from a cyber standpoint,” said Ayala, who is graduating with his bachelor’s degree in information technology and systems.

Ayala said that Fordham’s program is a good fit for veterans.

“They’ve been targeting veterans because of our experience—we have a certain mindset that’s very good within cybersecurity, being able to analyze it and act on intelligence,” he said, adding that Fordham’s location was also ideal for him. “I have family here in New York City, so I figured that was a good transition—I could move in with family while I got my feet back under me.”

The fellowship, which Ayala will complete while pursuing a master’s in information technology at Fordham, will expose him to different areas of the State Department and allow him to gain experience through two summer internships. After the fellowship ends, Ayala said he would be offered a five-year contract to continue working at the State Department.

Ayala credits Fordham’s Veterans Center and his internship with the University’s Information Security Office for helping him earn this fellowship.

“Fordham gives us the tools to make sure that our veterans that are transitioning from the military to the civilian sector are able to get a good job and be successful,” he said.

When Alison Rini, FCRH ’21, was in high school, she participated in a two-month high school exchange program in Spain, staying with a family about 30 minutes outside of Madrid. That experience made her fall in love with Spain, so when she was applying for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship, she applied for one there. Her bid was successful, and the English and Italian Studies major said she’s excited for the opportunity to teach students about American culture and immerse herself in the Spanish capital’s “Global Classrooms” program.

“In Madrid, there is the Global Classrooms program, which is essentially Model United Nations. I do Model U.N. at Fordham, I did it in high school. And so I was really excited about the possibility of teaching Model U.N. to a ninth-grade class,” she said, adding that she would help them compete with other students and get the chance to travel to New York.

Rini, who served as a researcher in Fordham’s Bronx African-American History Project, Bronx Italian-American History Initiative, and Bronx COVID-19 Oral History Project, said that she’s going to use this opportunity to explore teaching as a career and reconnect with her classmates from her high school exchange program. A former intern in the U.S. House of Representatives, Rini is also considering a career in the federal government.

Seana Epley, GSAS ’21, won the Critical Language Scholarship in back-to-back years in 2020 and 2021 to study and learn Swahili, initially in Tanzania, but now virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Epley, who is getting her master’s in humanitarian studies after earning an undergraduate degree in disaster response and emergency management from the University of North Texas, said she always had a desire to work on the African continent, which is what inspired her to pursue Swahili.

The program will run virtually over the summer for eight weeks and Epley said she plans to try to immerse herself in the language as much as possible to help her apply to nonprofits who are working on disaster response in the region.

“I felt like I could be of more use if I had a language that was applicable,” she said.

Epley said that while the phrase “build back better” has become cliche, she does want to do work that helps communities be stronger after a disaster.

“If you’re going into a community that’s been impacted by a disaster, you don’t want to build to the exact same standards, … because that’s just asking for more damage next time,” she said. “The ultimate goal of most humanitarians is to not be needed someday…I’d like to work with an organization that supplements those [community]specific skills and doesn’t just come in and take over.”

As of May 18, prestigious awards received this year include:

• Gates Millennium Scholars: Adiza Awwal, GSAS ’25; Mary Bookman, FCLC ’24; Arely Garcia, GSE ’25
• Marshall Award: Kayla Matteucci, FCLC ’18
• Ford Predoctoral Fellowship: Obianujunwa Anakwenze, GSAS ’24
• Soros Fellowship: Nikolas Oktaba, FCLC ’15
• Tibor T. Polgar Fellowship from the Hudson River Foundation: Royall McMahon Ward, FCLC ’22
• DAAD Long-Term Research Grant: Kathryn Bresee, GSAS ’23
• Awards for Excellence in Broadcasting: Anthony Alaimo, FCRH ’23, and Rebecca Gutierrez, FCRH ’22, in the Professional Category for Outstanding Podcast; Emmanuel Berbari, FCRH ’21, for Outstanding Podcast; Dominic Capone, FCRH ’20 and Devin Clementi, GABELLI ’20, in the College Radio Division for Outstanding Sports Coverage; Carmen Collins, GSAS ’20, Nicholas DeLuca, FCRH ’22, in the College Radio Division for Outstanding Podcast; Evan Jaenichen, FCRH ’20, in College TV Division for Outstanding Series or Documentary; Charles Maisano, FCRH ’20, in the College Radio Division for Outstanding Sports Coverage; Eliot Schiaparelli, FCRH ’21, in College Radio Division for Outstanding Newscast
• Alliance for Women in Media Foundation 2021 Gracie Award: Carmen Collins, GSAS ’20, Nora Thomas, FCRH ’21
• New York Press Club Award: Brianna Leverty, FCRH ’20
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program: Daniel Alonso, GSAS ’30, April Rich, FCRH ’19; Micah Savin, GSAS ’28
• United States Department of Treasury Summer 2021 Internship in Washington D.C.: John Brower, GSAS ’25
• Civil Rights Fellow at the National Education Association: Laura Petty, LAW ’21
• Public Service Fellow to the U.S, Mission to the United Nations: Adam Brasher, GSAS ’25
• Panda Cares Scholars: Baghdad Numi, FCRH ’23; Annie Qiu, GABELLI ’24

He will depart in June, and although his placement is not yet finalized, he hopes to study manuscripts and documents about suffering and trauma, and how these stories are told and retold.

Oktaba has had previous experience analyzing texts in the service of advancing discussions of trauma and human suffering. For his Gates Cambridge study, he read the Dionysiaca—at 20,426 lines, the longest surviving Greek poem from antiquity. His research integrates literature and the humanities as a whole into discussion of identity, sexuality, and trauma. It has touched on topics ranging from Dionysiac cult practices to the nightlife of Weimar Berlin, and he has presented his findings in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.

In the past two years, Oktaba has taught courses in military history at Oxford and at Cambridge University, where he earned a Master of Philosophy degree. He is translating ancient Greek magic scrolls for a book about pharmaco-religious beliefs of Late Antiquity and their continuing contemporary resonance.

In Asia, he hopes to deepen his understanding of trauma from a global perspective, using storytelling to investigate various forms of witnessing in post-traumatic survival, and exploring new ways to bridge academic and public discussions on trauma and its symptoms.

“Trauma is not a unidirectional narrative. It’s not simply a javelin that’s hurled from Point A to Point B. It is affective, and it is contagious,” he said.

Launched in 1974 by the Henry Luce Foundation, the Luce Scholars program identifies potential future U.S. leaders in order to promote cross-cultural understanding between the two regions.

Antonio Joseph DelGrande’s passion for language landed him one of Fordham’s five Critical Language Scholarships. The award offers intensive summer language instruction in 13 foreign languages deemed critical for building relationships between the United States and the international community.

DelGrande, who is graduating from the Gabelli School of Business‘s global business honors program, was originally destined for Bursa, Turkey to study Turkish, but his assignment has been relocated to Baku, Azerbaijan due to security concerns.

“It was a surprise to hear, and a bit of a bummer at first, but I’m excited to go,” said DelGrande, who is also proficient in Spanish and Italian, and has studied Mandarin and Swahili.

The two-month study will not be DelGrande’s first foray with Turkish. He has been studying the language since high school and also studied abroad in Istanbul. He plans to use his experience this summer to prepare him to begin a career in translation. He said he’s noticed many small businesses using websites and Facebook pages in both Turkish and English in order to reach a wider audience. Often, however, the translations are not good.

“I’d like to help these smaller business reach the English-speaking world by providing translations,” he said.

School of Law graduate Olivia Gonzalez will travel to Oxford University. Gonzalez won a Fulbright fellowship for graduate study in the United Kingdom, where she will work toward a master’s in social science with a specialty in cybersecurity law and policy.

“There is no existing international law on cyberwarfare,” said Gonzalez, who was also a 2014 White House fellow. “I’m interested in how the current laws of war are going to apply in the case of a cyberattack, and I’d like to help create new laws and policies around this.”

Boren scholarship winner Peter Terrafranca sets out in June to Amman, Jordan for a summer of intensive Arabic language study followed by a year researching the refugee crisis in the Middle East.

“I’m interested in how refugees integrate into the countries they end up in, as well as how U.S. foreign policy has affected refugee issues in the region,” said Terrafranca, a School of Professional and Continuing Studies student who is majoring in international studies and minoring in Arabic.

Terrafranca’s Boren win comes after a long journey of his own. After dropping out of a community college business program, Terrafranca enlisted in the military and made several tours to Afghanistan and Romania. While abroad, he witnessed firsthand the chaos that refugee families endure when they are forced to uproot and start anew in a foreign country.

“It’s a complex subject, and a sensitive one, because most refugees just want to go back home,” Terrafranca said. “I want to find out what hasn’t been talked about yet.”

As of July 5, other prestigious scholarships won this year include:

• Nine Fulbright Fellowships: Erik Angamarca, FCRH ’14, to Taiwan; Mostafa Elmadboly, FCRH ’16, to Turkey; GSAS student Kathleen (Ellie) Frazier, to Sierra Leone; Olivia Gonzalez, LAW ’16, to United Kingdom; James Lassen, FCRH ’16, to Taiwan; Pilar Mendez-Cruz, FCRH ’16, to Germany; David Rowley, FCRH ’13, to Turkey; Suzy Sikorski, FCRH ’16, to the United Arab Emirates; and GSE student LeAnn Tadros to Jordan.
• Eleven Clare Boothe Luce scholarships: FCRH junior Carolyn Allain; GSAS student Chelsea Butcher; FCLC sophomore Sammi Chung; GSAS student Nicole Fusco; GSAS student Carol Henger; FCRH sophomore Anna Jane Hudson; FCLC sophomore Juliet Mengaziol; FCRH sophomore Abby O’Neill; GSAS student Sarah Seepaulsingh; and FCRH sophomore Marissa Vaccarelli.
• Five Critical Language Scholarships: Antonio Joseph DelGrande, GABELLI ’16 (Turkish); FCRH sophomore Nicholas Guthammar (Arabic); FCRH junior Rich Himed (Arabic); Miranda Morton, FCRH ’15 (Urdu); and Suzy Sikorski, FCLC ’16 (Arabic).
• Six Gates Millennium scholarships: FCLC freshman Kevin Berlanga; FCRH junior Dylan Hollingsworth; Gabriel Hyman, FCLC ’16; FCLC sophomore Amarachi Korle; FCRH junior Yota Oue; and GABELLI freshman Anisha Pednekar.
• Four FBI Honors internships: FCRH junior Carolyn Allain; FCRH junior John Oddo; FCRH sophomore Cailee Tallon; and Luke Zaro, FCRH ’16.

Two additional Fordham alumni won Fulbright fellowships through other educational institutions. Michael Perrin, FCRH ’13, GSAS ’14, received an English teaching fellowship to Spain. A recent graduate from Yale University’s epidemiology and global health program, Perrin also plans to shadow at children’s hospitals and the Ministry of Health while in Madrid. Victoria Chatfield, GSE ’10, received a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching, which she will complete at the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom.

John Kezel, PhD, director of the Campion Institute, said his office’s initiative to reach more students from all of Fordham’s schools paid off this year.

“We are seeing greater diversity in the students who are applying for fellowships and they are bringing increasingly more creative projects and richer cultural and social backgrounds into their applications,” he said.

Courtney Celeste Spears stepped out of the Fordham classroom this fall and onto a world stage as a member of Ailey II, the highly selective junior company of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

Spears, a senior in the Ailey/Fordham BFA program in dance at Lincoln Center, recently completed her final Fordham class toward a minor in communications and media studies. She did it remotely while on a six-week tour that took her to Italy and across the United States. Through her professional work with Ailey II, she will also earn the last of the dance credits she needs to complete her BFA before May.

“I am excited to travel and keep feeding myself artistically so I can keep giving to others,” she said shortly before officially joining Ailey II. “I see dance as a vessel to put good back into the world.”

Ailey II’s first stop was Towson University, in her native city of Baltimore, Maryland.

“That was a homecoming for me, and to start off the tour like that was wonderful,” she said. “Between my family, my friends, my family’s friends, my entire old dance studio, and even my first dance teacher, there must have been about 60 people at the two performances.”

As if turning pro and kicking off the tour in her hometown weren’t enough, Spears also learned earlier this year that she had been selected to receive a Princess Grace Award for Dance. The award includes a full-tuition scholarship for her senior year.

Spears is not the only Fordham senior on tour with Ailey II this season. Her friend Gabriel Hyman, a Gates Millennium Scholar and fellow Ailey/Fordham senior, is also in the company. In fact, if you include Spears and Hyman, “more than half of the company [members] this year are Ailey/Fordham BFA grads,” said Spears.

As part of Ailey II’s tour, company members teach master classes to elementary and middle school students in different cities. For Spears, who has taught dance classes in the Bahamas, the classes were the best part of the touring experience.

“I’ve always felt that, as important as dance is as a performing art, it’s also meant to reach people, to communicate something meaningful,” she said.

In particular, Spears was struck by the class she taught in Italy with Troy Powell, Ailey II’s artistic director.

“The students didn’t speak English, so there was a language barrier. But it melted once we started dancing. We forgot we were from different countries and different parts of the world, and somehow they just understood our corrections and our instructions, and we understood them.”

Before she officially started with Ailey, Spears said she felt that much of what was happening was a bit “surreal.” Now that “it’s go time,” she said, “it does feel more real to me. But there are still those moments when I think, ‘Wow, I really get to do this.’”

A Baltimore native, Spears is a senior in the Ailey/Fordham BFA program in dance at Lincoln Center. She is also pursuing a minor in communication and media studies.

“I’ve always felt that, as important as dance is as a performing art, it’s also meant to reach people, to communicate something meaningful. I’ve always wanted to be able to share that,” she says.

The ability to combine academics and dance is part of what first attracted Spears to Fordham. She was set on being able to “dance rigorously and also have a rigorous academic schedule,” and felt that most other universities would force her to compromise one or the other. At Fordham, “it’s like they both got amplified.”

“I was also drawn to the Jesuit mentality of outreach and helping others,” she says, “of continuing to love what you do and excel at it while bringing others up with you.”

Spears has taught dance classes in the Bahamas, her mother’s homeland; completed an internship in Alvin Ailey’s public relations department; and auditioned for professional dance companies. At the end of her junior year, she was invited to become a member of Ailey II, the highly selective junior company of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

Her dedication, passion, and desire to help others have earned her recognition. At Fordham, she is the recipient of the Denise Jefferson Memorial Scholarship. And, this past summer, with the help of the Office for Prestigious Fellowships, she earned a Princess Grace Award for Dance. The award includes a full-tuition scholarship for her senior year.

“It’s still surreal to me,” says Spears. “Financial aid certainly played a huge part when I came to Fordham. I felt a personal responsibility to learn all I could about Denise Jefferson [one of the founders of the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program] when I received the scholarship [named in memory of her]. And I know the Princess Grace Award will not just help me but give me a platform and the connections to reach people, raise awareness, and spread love of and resources for the arts.”

However surreal it may seem to Spears, those who know her are not. “Courtney completely immerses herself into anything she takes on. She understands that being a dancer is greater than the individual. And she brings goodness wherever she goes. I think the Princess Grace Award will allow her to meet artists in other fields and open even more doors for her,” says Tracy Miller, Ailey/Fordham BFA program administrator.

In the fall, Spears will begin her professional dance career as she travels across the country and abroad to Italy with Ailey II.

“I am excited to travel and keep feeding myself artistically so I can keep giving to others. I see dance as a vessel to put good back into the world,” she says.